Terrain analysis – Circle of Blood arena

Slow day – not really, but lots of time to think about things NOT related to the subjects of the meetings, none of which have impact on my area of operations. So, we get a second thing.

Let me begin with a public service announcement. If you do a personal recon of these arena sites, please exercise a bit of caution. Entering the grounds flags you with the Arena Combat flag. A bit different from a normal flag, but potentially a LOT of fun. It allows you to fight others – not just those on the other faction, but ANYONE. Take appropriate precautions.

Once more I’m going to direct you to the WoW-Europe site for basic reference and go from there.

Now – Circle of Blood. It’s a wee bit difficult to get to unless/until you’ve done the quest series to become King/Queen of the Ogres. (Which you need to do so as to get OgriLa dailies.) Advertising in action, the circle is a square.

Basically, you’ve got a 100 yard by 100 yard square. Dividing the area between the starting points is a bridge which has two support pillars and two anchor pillars flanking the bridge at its midpoint. There’s a solid stone ramp leading up to the ramp on each side. The square itself has its corners chopped, and there are a couple of half-pillars on various walls.

I’m going to digress just a moment to say this is the “LoS Killer” arena. There are just a lot of places to duck to get out of sight if it takes more than a couple of seconds to do whatever you’re doing. Now let’s get back to the review, this time with some measurements.

Entry for each side is left of center (from side’s point of view) by about a 25-35 yard offset (depending on which side of the door you’re measuring). “Your” ramp is therefore about 15 yards left and 35 yards forward – just remember it’s a ramp on both sides up to the flat entrance to the bridge.

In the center of the arena is a 30 yard circle with four roughly square pillars around it – N, S, E and W. Two are directly under the bridge as supports. The other two are connected to the bridge with a rope. Each pillar is approximately 10×10 yards in size. The nearest edge of each side pillar is roughly 7-8 yards from the edge of the bridge — if you can jump that far you can jump to the stone, if you can’t… Actually, there’s a catch to that. The top of each pillar is roughly even with the platform at each side of the bridge. At approximately the 1/3 and 2/3 point is a pair of torches. Less visible is the fact the bridge slopes down. Not severely – it won’t break line of sight to the platforms. But it does put the middle of the bridge about 2 yards below the flank pillar tops. Oh – the pillars and platform are approximately 15 yards off the ground. The bridge is approximately 15 yards wide.

Finally, with absolutely no terrain use but perhaps useable as range markers, there are two “grills” in the ground. They’re about 5 x 10 yards, and they’re centered in the quadrants that do NOT have a team entrance – the long side is parallel to the entrance side.

The ground itself is functionally flat, though there is a slight ‘lip’ around the center circle which is itself slightly lower than the surrounding ground. Guesstimate is one yard up and two yards down – sloped, so there is no hindrance to movement.

Finally, there are pillars at each corner and in the center of each platform. Each has a width/diameter of approximately ten yards.

That’s measurements. Some of the things need special mention for analysis. For example: you can get to – and stand on – the side pillars. If you do so you’re still in LoS for ranged/Casters. BUT – for melee you’re essentially at the end of a very narrow tunnel. They MUST come to the center of the bridge, the edge near you. Most will have to walk the rope to get to you.

for example – an OBVIOUS but unremarked issue is that it’s faster – by FAR – to go down than up. The essential core of kiting is for you to be defacto faster than they are, and here’s an example of opportunity.

for example – the width of the bridge makes it possible to break LoS from someone on the ground who is otherwise in range. I point out the obvious “how” – sit, then stand, while at the ‘far’ edge from the ranged/caster. Or lie down, though that’s a slight bit slower.

The key to mastering this terrain is knowing how to use it to determine when and where actual combat occurs. I expect to spend a LOT of time in study here.

==begin edit==

OK, if you’re here you may or may not know my error above. Basically, I got informed by someone who does it regularly that you don’t need to walk the rope to get to the side pillars – it’s in jumping range. Not easily, and I now know I need more practice on my jumping skills, but it’s doable.

Also note that if you’re considering using that platform as a “come get me” ambush site you REALLY want to beware things that’ll cause you to run off it. Fear, mind control, … be aware they’re there. Other side of the coin – remember they’re available if the OTHER side is the one to pull the pillar game.

About…

I've experience with many priests of many races and specs on several servers. The more I play, the more I realize how much I do not yet know. This is a share of some of what I have learned.
My main these days is Zingiber on the Undermine server.